Cooler than a Clipboard

Quick find of the day! Check out these cool Lap Desks from Room It Up. They sorta make me wish I had some type of homework to do again so that I would have a use for one of them. They come in the trendiest patterns, and are obviously SO much cooler than a clipboard. They retail for $28 and would make a great gift for the 5 and older set, or the budding artist in your life. Check out all of the different coordinating colors and options at Room It Up.

Rainy Day Blues

Yesterday evening and all through last night it poured down raining here. It was so bad at one point, in fact, that while we were at a concert last night (for 1.5 hours) it rained so hard that when people went out to their cars some of them had water up to their seats. Not good. This morning when we woke up it was STILL raining, and it made me wonder what in the heck we could do all day. I started looking around and found these awesome "Rainy Day Art Kits" from the Land of Nod.

This awesome kit is packed with everything you could possibly need to occupy yourselves on a rainy day -- including mold and play clay, tissue paper art, needlepoint kit and felt friends. Plus, it's right under $25, so it would be the perfect thing to pick up now and store for days like today!

Car Valet

I have been scouring the web as of late for travel stuff to help with our trip across the pond this summer, and I came across this awesome Car Valet by Alex! It adjusts to fit over the back of a car seat and has the little fold down desk so your kids can draw, do homework, whatever! It has little detachable pouches to hold crayons and other safe art supplies, and you can store paper in it when it's not in use. Personally, I think this is very smart idea, and I can totally see it's value! Little AG is still to young to use this, but I still love it! You can purchase one at Madallie for $29.95.

Smashing Smocks

First off, let me tell you that I really enjoy the word "smock". I don't know why, I just do. Smock. See? It's fun to say! Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me introduce you to this fabulous product that just happens to be, you guessed it, a smock.

Oh no, this isn't any ole smock. This is a fully laminated (and I mean even the inside of the pockets are laminated) play smock -- perfect for outside, inside, chalk, dirt, you name it, they can get into it now! The two giant pockets on the front are perfect for holding all of that dirt for that mud pie they are pretending to make "mommy for dinner". Or maybe you just want to use it as a giant bib. I'm contemplating it myself.

They come in a bunch of different designs and patterns for both boys and girls -- I especially enjoy the Ivy Leaguer, Wonder Boy, and Little Diva patterns, though my absolute favorite is Wild Child (shown here). You can pick one up at Bella Tunno for $30! .

Write-on Walls

Thankfully, I haven't had to deal with crayons and markers in the house yet, because Little AG is thrilled if she even gets the crayon to make a mark on the paper at a restaurant, and so far I'm happy to have that as the extent of our "art" experience. But, I know these days won't last long, so I was pretty excited when I found these vinyl chalk board sheets over at Olive Kids. They are 9" by 12" panels, and you get four of them in a pack (available in blue, pink, green, or grey) ! I was thinking on buying several packs of them and sticking them in a line all along the baseboards on one side of her playroom! The best part is, they stick to any clean and dry surface, and are completely adjustable, so if you get sick of them in one place, just peel them off and put them somewhere else! Pick up a set of 4 for $16.99 at Olive Kids.

Perfect Placemats

How cool are these placemats?! They work like mini chalkboards, making them the perfect thing to distract your kids while you finish getting dinner or lunch ready. The set of 4 comes with a box of chalk and an eraser, normally $31.00, on sale for $21.00. Each place mat is 12" x 18" and you can buy them at www.preciouspersonalities.com.